BEIJING -- Chinese smartphone maker Vivo unveiled a new 5G handset Tuesday as the company picks up the pace to gain a bigger presence of the expanding 5G smartphone market.

The company's iQOO, a niche brand set up last March to target young users, rolled out a flagship handset series iQOO 3, which supports both standalone and non-standalone 5G networks and empowered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.

The press conference was streamed live online, an innovative tactic being used by some companies to launch new products amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Priced from 3,598 yuan (about $512.73), the new smartphone features several function enhancements that aim to offer e-sports players faster and smoother experiences.

China saw booming shipments of 5G handsets after it greenlighted commercial use of 5G technologies last June. Some 13.77 million 5G smartphones were shipped in 2019, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed.

Despite an overall drop in smartphone shipments in January, 5G handset shipments continued to grow last month, up from December's 5.41 million sets to reach 5.46 million, CAICT data showed.